The conceit of the Netflix movie Death Noteis that someone in possession of an evil book can write a person’s name down in it, and watch them meet their fate. At the Comic-Con Hall H panel for the film this afternoon as part of Netflix’s presentation, director Adam Wingard wasn’t asked by fans who he’d like to include in a Death Note if he owned one, rather what supervillain scares him the most.

Without blinking an eye, Wingard exclaimed, “The president of the United States.”

Based on the manga by Tsugumi Ohba and Takeshi Obata, Death Note follows a teenage boy named Light Turner (Nat Wolff) who comes into possession of this book, which can change the world, end wars and rid the globe of awful people. A clip offered during the session showed the spiney monster Ryuk, who lords over the Death Note, instructing and egging on Light to kill a bunch of bullies who are physically assaulting a girl at school. “This is wish fulfillment and it can get out of hand,” Wolff billed the pic to the crowd.

Explaining what drew him to the material, Wingard said: “It was an opportunity to take something that had a great premise and breath life into it. In terms of what happens is so outlandish: the power to kill everything by writing their name in a book. There were cool themes here and embedded in that was good and evil.”